I Have a Face...

"I have a face, but a face is not what I am.  Behind it lies a mind, which you do not see but which looks out on you.  This face, which you see but I do not, is a medium I own to express something of what I am.  Or so it seems till I turn to the mirror.  Then, my face may seem to own me; to confront me as a condition to which I am bound."   ~Julian Bell, Five Hundred Self Portraits, Phaidon. 2000.

Being the Ocean

Being the Ocean 24 x 48 inches

Acrylic 'dropper' technique

April 15, 2015

On a recent trip to Costa Rica I spotted these beautiful kids absorbed in their experience: the warmth and movement of the water; the sun; the rhythmic music of the surf.  This is the original photo that I took of the moment.

 I wanted to preserve as much as possible of their gestures and the way the sun lit their figures, while intensifying the range of colors in the water.

 After drawing, my first step was to apply an under-painting of colored glazes to make the canvas more receptive to the application of paint applied with an eye dropper.


Beginning at the top right (because I am left-handed) I started applying complete layers of paint to the far ocean water and distant rocks, then worked my way down the top wave.  

Colors are applied wet-in-wet, giving them a pleasing swirly quality that work well with the water.

Darker colors in the water-washed sand are added first. Fluid acrylics, when mixed with a generous portion of fluid medium, have a small degree of transparency, so overlaid colors offer hints of the darker layers beneath.



 The canvas is always laid flat for paint application.  The main range of colors, like an organized palette, stay in a handy order of hue and saturation.

The children are rendered in varying shades of orange and an orange/violet/blue mix for shadows.

 The movement of the water is rendered by wet-in-wet applications of various shades of blue and violet.

Applications of layers of paint for the water, the bottom wave, and the children are alternated over several days to allow for drying time.

Final touches consist of adding splashes of water around the playing boys and additional sparkles of light on other areas of the water.

"I am a Writer" The Story of the Painting

One of my artistic goals is to do a collection of portraits of local homeless people.  I want to show others how those individuals who may be spotted on our downtown streets can have such interesting stories.  They deserve more attention and respect than they usually receive.

It was July of 2013.  I was taking a week of independent painting with instructor George Glen at the Prince Albert Art Centre.  It was a great opportunity to use this location to find models for portraits by looking out the second floor window at the downtown park below.  I spotted an older man sitting on one of the benches.  Quickly I gathered my notebook, camera, and a prepared model release form and went outside to meet him.

I introduced myself and offered to pay five dollars for a few photos and a little information.  The man immediately agreed.  I had him sign my model release form, getting his name and his signed permission for me to use his image for a potential painting for which I retained copyright.  Legalities out of the way I told him to tell me a bit about himself while I took some impromptu photos.

Augie’s first statement about himself was this: “I am a Writer.”  He went on to tell me that he was writing stories about himself for a book.  That was not an unusual thing to hear – even from someone who declared himself to be relatively homeless.  It was his subsequent descriptions of his life that had me thinking, “Okay, this man is obviously a story teller, and a good one.”  Some of his experiences, such becoming a star boxer and meeting Sugar Ray fit in with my understanding of story tellers, for whom accuracy of fact takes a back seat to fictional embellishment. 

I enjoyed listening to him talk as I photographed and sketched him.  As he described his experiences of residential school I consciously kept my mouth shut, for that is an area I deal with in my work life as a mental health therapist.  Here I was just being an artist.  I already had a notion of just how the experience of separation from family and community and language would have affected the child that he was.  He went on to describe his adult life as a northern guide and naturalist.  He said “The things I know about survival in the bush – those are things that will be important to many other people very soon.  I am writing about that too. The world needs that knowledge.”

Very satisfied with the time spent with Augie, I returned to the studio in the Art Centre and commenced the under-painting for the portrait of this interesting man; his full name, Joseph Augustus Merasty.  Later in the year the painting was enhanced by applying a final layer of paint with a dropper, rather than a brush. 

On its first public display the portrait of Augie was purchased by the Mann Art Gallery for its permanent collection.  Subsequently it was displayed in Saskatoon as a part of a show curated by Michel Boutin.  It was at that show that someone relayed the information about it to the University of Regina publishing company – the one that was in the process of publishing a book of memoirs of Augie Merasty!

I found that out when I got an email from the publisher, Bruce Walsh.  He received a photo of my painting and wanted to know if it could be used in the book and if it was, indeed, Augie Merasty.  I was grateful that I did have the foresight to have had Augie sign the model release, although I was teased a little in the class for being so business-like with street people. Sending him a copy of the document was an easy confirmation.

Perhaps that is the lesson behind this painting.  People that we may see (and most want to avoid) on the streets – particularly those that appear a little shabbier, may contain the most valuable stories for all of us.  We would not know that unless we treat them as rightful citizens and take the time to listen.

The Book  The Education of Augie Merasty: A Residential School Memoir has now been published and available through the University of Regina Press. The link brings another story about the man and his book.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/residential-school-survivors-memoir-details-decade-of-utter-cruelty/article23556082/?cmpid=rss1&click=sf_globefb

My Studio

My studio is housed in a backyard building separate from my house.  In the winter it is heated by a wood stove, lending a deliciously inviting peacefulness.  Its my space - the place where I go to paint, to write, to dance, to sing, to pray.  Full of everything available to create, its my big playroom that keeps me balanced.

Here is a glimpse into this wonderful space.

Scroll down for an older, slightly related poem.

 

                 
 

Pastel Pictures

Can’t you see that life is too precious

for bland, pastel pictures

faded and dulled to complacency?

Do they really capture your spirit

make it laugh or cry or sing?

I could not declare my life to be truth

if I gazed on a sweep of mountains

splashed with morning light

and did not feel the ache to share their beauty;

witness the gifts of life

without the urge to gift them again.

If I walked, as many would have it, through my days containing

all the melodies of my love

the drumbeats of my anger

the sharps and flats of my grief

I could not speak with those deep reds of passion

Shimmering blues of insight

excited oranges of curiosity

ballooning yellows of joy

or the erratic splashes of glee

If I lived with grey walls and moats and armoured heart

I would live a picture with no spirit

to be glimpsed at, then forgotten.

Copyright Kathie Bird, 1984

Urban Gaea

Urban Gaea

Acrylic dropper  36 x 24"

March 3, 2015

Copyright Katherine Bird

Urban Gaea

September 16, 2014

Her child against her breast like a second skin

Her countenance serene

As her energy vies for power with the sun

Disguising her gift ‘neath casual cast

From Gaea her spirit feeds 

She blesses the bus with her voluptuous light

"Gaea, or Mother Earth, was the great goddess of the early Greeks.  She represented the Earth and was worshipped as the universal mother.  In Greek mythology, she created the Universe and gave birth to both the first race of gods and the first humans."
http://www.windows2universe.org/mythology/gaea.html

Storytime

Storytime

Acrylic dropper, February 28/15

24 x 30"

It was an outdoor lunch in Italy - sunlight flooding the tabletop, bouncing off of glass, reflecting on the faces of people deep in happy conversation.

Some photos of the creation of Storytime (courtesy Shirley Barg, photographer, Edmonton, Alta)

Wash Day

A poem penned in 1984 while sitting in a laundromat

Wash day

He remembers wash day as a child
When everyone would gather at the river with their bundles

The women - laughing over private jokes

Worked diligently with their family clothing

Tender hands on precious cloth

Water and stones and trees and fires

And the men, hunkered in circles

Exchanged stories and news

While the children tended the horses

And shrieked in tumbling play
It was a sharing day - a happy day

Not much time has passed

Since we began to use these places

Where we haul our baskets and plastic baggage

Shove coins into machines

That slurp and roar

Metal and motors and florescent lights

We bring our wash once a week
To idly stand and watch it all slog clean on its own

Too noisy for words

We keep to ourselves and avert our eyes

And think our own thoughts

The children, regarded as nuisance

Are made to hush in their play

It’s a tedious day - a lonely day